South Korean President Moon Jae-In  said today he would be willing to sit down with the nuclear-  armed North's leader Kim Jong-Un, as the international  community welcomed an agreement for Pyongyang to send its  athletes to the Winter Olympics in the South.
The Games in Pyeongchang next month have long been  overshadowed by geopolitical tensions, with the North  launching missiles capable of reaching the US mainland in  recent months and detonating by far its most powerful nuclear  device to date.
But Pyongyang - which boycotted the 1988 Summer Olympics  in Seoul - yesterday agreed to send athletes and officials to  the event as North and South held their first formal talks for  two years at Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
"It is only the beginning," Moon told a press conference  today. "Yesterday was the first step and I think we had a good  start."
"Bringing North Korea to talks for denuclearisation is  the next step we must take."
He was willing to hold a summit "at any 

S Korea's Moon willing to hold summit with Kim Jong-Un

PTI Automatic

Middle-class Afghans turned jihadists  have assisted the Islamic State group's expansion from its  stronghold in Afghanistan's restive east to Kabul, analysts  say, helping to make the capital one of the deadliest places  in the country.
IS has claimed nearly 20 attacks across Kabul in 18  months, with cells including students, professors and  shopkeepers evading Afghan and US security forces to bring  carnage to the highly fortified city.
It is an alarming development for Kabul's war-weary  civilians and beleaguered security forces, who are already  struggling to beat back the resurgent Taliban, as well as the  US counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan.
"This is not just a group that has a rural bastion in  eastern Afghanistan - it is staging high casualty, high  visibility attacks in the nation's capital and I think that's  something to be worried about," said analyst Michael Kugelman  of the Wilson Center in Washington.
The Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K), the Middle  East 

IS cells operate in Kabul under noses of Afghan and US forces

A powerful and shallow 7.6-  magnitude earthquake has hit the waters off the coast of  Honduras, triggering tsunami threats and advisories for nearby  Caribbean shores, though there were no immediate reports of  damage or injuries.
The quake struck at 0820 IST late yesterday and its  epicenter was located some 27 miles (44 kilometers) east of  Great Swan Island, according to the US Geological Survey  (USGS). It was provisionally considered to be shallow.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said  authorities had activated the country's emergency system, but  urged people to "please remain calm."
"Based on the preliminary earthquake parameters,  hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts located within  1,000 kilometers of the earthquake epicenter," the US National  Weather Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
Tsunami advisories, which are a level below "warnings"  were issued for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Belize and Jamaica meanwhile were  ..

Magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes off Honduras coast: USGS

Two Reuters journalists were due in  a Myanmar court today where they could be charged under a  secrecy law that carries up to 14 years in jail, as calls  escalate for their release.
Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were  arrested a month ago after receiving documents from two  policemen during a dinner in Yangon.
They were detained under the colonial-era Official  Secrets Act after they left the restaurant for alleged  possession of classified documents obtained "by deception".
The pair had been reporting on the military campaign in  Rakhine state that has forced some 655,000 Rohingya Muslims to  flee over the border to Bangladesh since August, violence the  UN has condemned as ethnic cleansing.
The issue is highly sensitive inside Myanmar.
Reuters insists their reporters have done nothing wrong,  while their families have suggested the pair were set up.
The US and EU have led global calls for the journalists  to be freed, while Amnesty International late Tuesday ..

Reuters journalists face court in Myanmar

Chinese authorities battling to  prevent an environmental disaster after a collision between an  Iranian tanker and a cargo ship said today no major oil spill  has been detected, but 31 sailors remained missing.
Cleanup and rescue ships have faced toxic fumes, rain and  windy conditions as they scrambled to find survivors and avoid  a massive oil slick since Saturday's incident.
The Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil,  has been in flames since colliding with the CF Crystal, a Hong  Kong-registered bulk freighter, 160 nautical miles east of  Shanghai.
Experts had warned that a spill of the Panamanian-flagged  274-metre (899-foot) tanker's cargo could spell environmental  catastrophe as authorities said the ship could explode or  sink.
But China's transport ministry said in a statement that  as of 6:00 pm yesterday, "no large-scale oil spills were found  on the sea surface" where the search is being conducted around  the stricken vessel, which continued to burn.
The oil .

China says no major oil spill after Iran tanker collision

Denuclearisation of the Korean  peninsula is "the path to peace and our goal", South Korean  President Moon Jae-In said today, a day after the North agreed  to send its athletes to the Winter Olympics in his country.
"We need to continue efforts to hold a peace Olympics,"  Moon told a press conference. "We need to peacefully resolve  North Korea's nuclear issue."
Delegates from North and South Korea held their first  official talks for two years yesterday at Panmunjom in the  Demilitarized Zone that has divided the peninsula for decades.
Pyongyang boycotted the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul,  but they agreed that this time the North would send athletes  and officials to the Games, which begin in Pyeongchang next  month.
Tensions over North Korea's weapons programmes have  heightened in recent months, with Pyongyang launching missiles  capable of reaching the US mainland and detonating by far its  most powerful nuclear device to date.
The North's leader Kim Jong-Un and US President ...

S Korea's Moon: denuclearisation is path to peace

Mudslides unleashed by a  ferocious storm demolished homes in southern California and  killed at least 13 people, police said today.
Authorities said the bodies were discovered in mud and  debris during rescue operations in Montecito, northwest of Los  Angeles.
"We are saddened to report that this incident so far has  resulted in 13 confirmed fatalities, as result of the storm  that came through our area last night," Santa Barbara County  Sheriff Bill Brown told a news conference, warning that he  expected the death toll to increase.
The Santa Barbara County Fire Department said on its  Twitter feed it was using dogs to look for victims where  multiple homes once stood in Montecito following heavy rain,  with more than 20 people reported missing.
The department posted pictures of rivers of waist-high  mud flowing through neighborhoods and roads rendered  impassable by fallen trees.
"Firefighters successfully rescued a 14-yr-old girl after  she was trapped for hours inside a destroyed .

California mudslides demolish homes, killing at least 13

The US House of Representatives  today adopted a resolution supporting anti-government  protesters in Iran and condemning the regime's crackdown on  the demonstrations of recent weeks.
Lawmakers backed the measure almost unanimously, by a  vote of 415 to two.
The House "stands with the people of Iran that are  engaged in legitimate and peaceful protests against an  oppressive, corrupt regime," and condemns the government's  "serious human rights abuses against the Iranian people," the  resolution stated.
Violent unrest erupted in dozens of Iranian cities  between December 28 and January 1, leaving at least 21 people  dead.
The resolution also called on President Donald Trump's  administration to issue new sanctions punishing Iran's human  rights violators.
"In standing with the Iranian people, we must explain  that they are not the target of our sanctions," House Foreign  Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce said.
"US sanctions target the oppressive, destabilizing  regime, not the ...

US House condemns Iran over crackdown on protesters

Between 90 and 100 migrants were  missing after their makeshift boat sank in the Mediterranean  off the coast of Libya, the country's navy said today.
Survivors said the inflatable boat was carrying more than  100 people when it went down, according to navy spokesman  Ayoub Kacem, who said rescuers had saved just 17 people,  including some women.

Scores of migrants missing in Mediterranean: Libyan Navy

Sweden, a big donor country  that has recognised Palestine as a state, warned today that  any US decision to withdraw funds to the UN agency for  Palestinians would be destabilising for the Middle East.
Sweden's UN Ambassador Olof Skoog said he had raised his  concerns with US Ambassador Nikki Haley following reports that  the US administration had withheld $125 million in funds due  on January 1 for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency  for Palestinians.
"My concern is that as we talk about regional stability,  withdrawing funding for UNRWA would be very negative, both in  terms of humanitarian needs of over five million people but  also of course it would be destabilizing for the region,"  Skoog told reporters at UN headquarters.
The Swedish ambassador said he did not rule out raising  the issue at the Security Council, which is scheduled to hold  its regular meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on  January 25.
US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened  to 

Sweden warns against cutting US aid to Palestinians

The United Nations'  political affairs chief traveled to Libya today seeking  progress in a new UN push to unite the country and end years  of chaos.
Jeffrey Feltman, the UN under-secretary of state for  political affairs, will also travel to neighboring Tunisia  during his visit until Friday, said a UN statement.
The United Nations has launched a plan to bring stability  to Libya through elections and changes to a 2015 political  deal that set up a government of national accord led by Prime  Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.
After two meetings were held in Tunis last year, there  appears to have been little progress.
"The United Nations urges all Libyan actors to engage in  earnest in an inclusive political process leading to credible  and fair elections," said Feltman.
There is a "window of opportunity" to focus efforts on  building unified state institutions, he added.
There was no immediate information on Feltman's meetings.
Despite the 2015 accord, Libya remains divided between  the ...

UN political chief in Libya to push for talks

Two teenage girls wearing explosive  vests were shot dead by soldiers in a town in north eastern  Nigeria just days after a blast killed 14 worshippers, militia  sources told AFP today.
Soldiers patrolling the town of Gamboru opened fire after  the two girls, strapped with explosives, refused to remove the  vests in the early hours of the morning. A third girl was  arrested.
"Three teenage suicide bombers were found by soldiers and  two of them were killed while the third was arrested with her  explosive belt," said Umar Kachalla, a civilian militiaman in  the town close to the Cameroon border.
"Two of the girls who were walking together were asked  to remove their vests but they refused and were shot dead by  troops," he added.
Soldiers spotted the third girl after she abandoned her  explosive vest in a nearby empty building, said another  militiaman Shehu Mada.
The attempted bombing comes as Nigeria has launched a  major offensive against Boko Haram following an escalation in  ...

Two teenage girl 'bombers' shot dead in Nigeria

For the first time in many  years, the World Bank's outlook for the global economy is  better than expected rather than worse, with all regions  seeing improved growth, according to the forecast released  today.
However, the bank warns that countries must make  investments to improve their growth prospects, and the time to  do that is before the next crisis hits, as it inevitably will.
"The big story is a good story. Global growth stronger  than what we expected," World Bank economist Ayhan Kose told  AFP, noting that all the forecasts in the Global Economic  Prospects report are better than the June edition.
Kose, who heads the World Bank's Development Prospects  Group -- which twice a year prepares the global economic  forecasts -- notes that the world is seeing "highly  synchronised" economic expansion.
That includes solid growth in the "big three" advanced  economies -- the United States, the eurozone and Japan -- and  improvements in the important emerging market economies.
In ...

World Bank upgrades global growth forecasts as recovery

An Israeli civilian died of  wounds in a gun attack on his car near a settlement in the  north of the occupied West Bank, the army said today.
The man died in hospital following the shooting near  Havat Gilad, east of the Palestinian city of Nablus, the army  said, without specifying if he was a settler.
Before being taken to hospital, the man was able to call  for help on his phone, according to public radio, which aired  the recording.
"I was shot near Havat Gilad," the man said, before  collapsing.
The station said the man was in his 30s and lived in the  settlement.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement that  he was confident the "security forces will track down the  perpetrators and bring them to justice".
About 400,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West  Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel for 50 years.
The settlements are deemed illegal under international  law and widely seen as a main obstacle to peace.
Fourteen Palestinians have been killed ..

Israeli shot near West Bank settlement dies

US television channel CBS  announced today that its shamed millionaire news anchor,  sacked for alleged sexual harassment, had been replaced by  another man after its higher-rated rival appointed a woman.
John Dickerson, 49, will join "CBS This Morning" as a  co-host on Wednesday, taking the hot seat alongside co-stars  Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell, the network announced.
He replaces Charlie Rose, one of a slew of highly-  paid, powerful men in the world of media and entertainment to  lose their jobs as the United States reckons with a sexual  harassment watershed.
Dickerson joined CBS News in 2009 and was the  network's political director for six years, moderating two  presidential debates during the 2016 presidential campaign.
His appointment comes after NBC named Hoda Kotb to  replace its own shamed morning star, Matt Lauer, on "Today,"  currently the most watched morning cable news show in the  United States.
NBC's decision to have two women hosts broke with the  traditional ...

US network replaces shamed anchor with another man

France's most revered actress  Catherine Deneuve declared today that men should be "free to  hit on" women, condemning a new "puritanism" she claimed has  been sparked by sexual harassment scandals.
She was one of around 100 French women writers,  performers and academics who wrote an open letter deploring  the wave of "denunciations" that has followed claims that  Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted and  harassed women over decades.
They branded it a "witch-hunt" that they claim  threatens sexual freedom.
"Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even  persistently or cack-handedly, is not -- nor is being  gentlemanly a macho attack," said the letter published in the  daily Le Monde.
"Men have been punished summarily, forced out of their  jobs when all they did was touch someone's knee or try to  steal a kiss," said the letter, which was also signed by  Catherine Millet, author of the hugely explicit 2002 memoir,  "The Sexual Life of Catherine M.".
Men had ...

French star Deneuve defends men's 'right' to chat up women

Ecuador is seeking a "third country  or a personality" to mediate a final settlement with Britain  to resolve the future of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the  foreign minister said today.
Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said the  South American country was "considering and exploring the  possibility of mediation" to end the "untenable" five-year  impasse.
Assange moved into Ecuador's embassy in London in 2012  to avoid arrest over now-dropped Swedish rape charges. He  remains over fears he will be extradited to the United States  and put on trial for WikiLeaks publishing leaked secret US  military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.
"No solution will be achieved without international  cooperation and the cooperation of the United Kingdom, which  has also shown interest in seeking a way out," she told  foreign correspondents in Quito.
It is the first time Ecuador has proposed mediation to  resolve the case.
Swedish prosecutors initially wanted Assange  extradited to ..

Ecuador seeks mediator to resolve 'untenable' Assange standoff

Zenit Saint-Petersburg coach Roberto  Mancini said today he was open to taking over the vacant job  as Italy national football coach.
Mancini, 53, is being touted along with Chelsea manager  Antonio Conte and former Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti  to take the reins of the demoralised four-time World Cup  winners.
Giampiero Ventura was fired as coach last November days  after Italy's shock failure to reach the World Cup final for  the first time in 60 years.
Finding Ventura's successor has been complicated because  the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has to elect a  president to replace Carlo Tavecchio who was also forced to  resign.
"Before choosing a new coach it seems to me that we have  to choose a new FIGC president," former Manchester City and  Inter Milan boss Mancini told Italian talk show "Tiki Taka".
"But I absolutely don't rule out Italy, like the other  coaches I think. When you're a coach you can rule nothing  out."
Former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus and AC ...

Mancini open to Italy coaching job

Real Madrid may have ended the year  badly, but Zinedine Zidane has been named French coach of 2017  for leading the club to a Liga and Champions League double.
"I want to show that I can also be a good coach in tough  circumstances," Zidane said in an article published on Tuesday  in France Football magazine, which gives the award.
Real are going through a bad run. They are fourth in La  Liga, 16 points behind leaders Barcelona, and they ended 2017  with a crushing 3-0 defeat at home in the Clasico.
On Sunday, they were held to a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo.
"Today, yes, the danger is there, but I'm not going to  change. I am aware that I have in front of me great players  who listen to me. Playing football, I know how to do that. So  things will sort themselves out in the end," Zidane said.
"Some people may think that everything is always easy for  me, that I do everything from instinct, but that's not true!  Whether it is as a player or as a coach, I've always worked,"  said ...

Zidane named French coach of the year

Sri Lanka Cricket said today the  sport's global governing body had found no evidence of  wrongdoing following allegations of match-fixing and other  forms of corruption.
The board said the International Cricket Council had  failed to uncover evidence of graft during an investigation  into explosive accusations levelled by former Sri Lankan  players.
SLC chief executive Ashley de Silva said ICC anti-  corruption investigators visited the island in September and  conducted a wide-ranging inquiry.
"They do not put out statements after an inquiry, but if  there is anything adverse, they would inform us. To date, they  have not told us of anything (against Sri Lankan players or  officials)," de Silva told reporters.
There was no immediate comment from the ICC.
The council's announcement in September that it had began  an inquiry followed corruption allegations by former skipper  Arjuna Ranatunga and ex-player and national selector Pramodya  Wickremasinghe.
SLC said its executive committee 

Sri Lanka cricket cleared of corruption, board says

The Philippines will lodge a  diplomatic protest with China after Manila questioned if  Beijing had reneged on a pledge not to militarise a disputed  South China Sea reef.
Beijing claims nearly all of the sea and has been turning  reefs in the Spratly and Paracel chains into islands,  installing military facilities and equipment on them.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana today said Manila was  investigating reports of recent Chinese activity on Fiery  Cross Reef, an outcrop that Beijing turned into an artificial  island and which now appears to house a military base.
Lorenzana spoke out despite recent moves by President  Rodrigo Duterte to ease tensions with China.
"According to them they are not militarising (the reefs)  and it was for peaceful purposes only like tourism," Lorenzana  said.
"But if it is true and we can prove that they have been  putting soldiers and any weapons, defensive (or) otherwise,  that would be a violation of what they said".
Lorenzana said he had also ...

AFP

AFP

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